Coffee vision

There is a school of thought that some of us do not technically belong to the human race until we have had our first coffee of the morning. After all, the term “sapiens” from Homo sapiens sapiens means wise, judicious and sensible…none of which are qualities by some of us if the first cup of coffee has not yet been procured. If you number among those who feel that you can’t see the world quite properly until your first cup of java has washed across the gums then a new study may add further conviction to your view.

Although caffeine is the flagship ingredient of coffee it does contain other ingredients and sometimes in greater quantity. For instance a green coffee bean contains only one per cent caffeine but it is 8-9 per cent chlorogenic acid (CGA). This CGA might be the thing that can protect your retina and therefore your eyesight.

Your retina is made of light sensitive cells and is one of the most metabolically active tissues in your body. All of this biological activity means that a lot of free radicals are generated in the retina making it susceptible to oxidative damage leading to conditions like glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and macular degeneration. All of these conditions can lead to varying degrees of blindness.

In a new study researchers wanted to see whether chlorogenic acid might protect the retina against this oxidative damage.

In the first part of their research it emerged that damage to retinal ganglion cells denied oxygen was reduced if the cells were exposed to CGA. In mice with damage to their retina, it was found that both CGA and coffee extract reduced retinal ganglion cell death (the cells located near the surface of the retina). It emerged that CGA did this by stopping reductions in a cell surface protein called Thy-1 (thymocyte antigen – 1 or CD90). The exact biological roles of Thy-1 are not yet fully understand but it is believed to play a role in programmed cell death, inflammation, and nerve regeneration.

The researchers say that their findings suggest that coffee may help prevent retinal degeneration.

So next time you are ordering a latte from your local provider you can with some justification and accuracy adjust your pronunciation and request a café latt-eye.